By Abiola Olawale
Abubakar Bello, Niger State Governor on Friday debunked the reports about the released of the abducted students and staff of the Government Science College (GSC), in Kagara, Niger State.
They were abducted by suspected bandits from the school, Wednesday.
The Governor debunked the information about the released of the 27 students and 15 other people abducted from the school, stating that the state government is still meeting with local authorities to ensure the safe release of the abducted students and members of the staff of the school.
Bello made this revelation on Friday, shortly after his meeting with Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, a renowned Islamic Scholar at the Government House in Minna, the state capital.
The Governor said the safety of the abductees is very paramount to him as he has taken several steps to ensure their release. The governor urged the parents and families of the abducted persons not to despair, saying the government is committed to securing their release as soon as possible.
In his words, “As at this moment, we do not have any additional information to give apart from the one given earlier on, yesterday. But I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can, we are interfacing with the local communities, with federal authorities and our own state authorities to ensure that we recover the victims safely. Our utmost priority right now is to make sure we bring them back home safe and that is exactly what we are going to do.
“So, there hasn’t been any information I can give you at this moment but once we have anything for you, we will let you know. Everything that is being said out there is rumour and in situations like this, we cannot work with rumour, it has to be confirmed. Yes, we’ve been receiving different rumours from different people within villages but we are still treating those as rumour until processed and confirmed.”
